Garment band



Dec. 12, 193.9. H. HARDIE Er AL v 2,183,257

` GARMENT BAND Filed Deo. 24, 155 ZASheetS-Sheet 1 4 TENS/0N ROLLS FORTHE RUBBER TRfrm/JBL INVENoRs Jim1, Mx Lu? l e/ATTORNEY v 25 expandslaterally.

Patented Dec. 12, 1939'.

n alsazsv GARMENT BAND l v Harry Hardie and John Frost Hargreaves, Baltmore, Md., assignors to The Fanltless Manu. facturing Company,Baltimore' Md., a corporation of Maryland' Application December 24,193s, seal No. 55,966 v 1 claim. (ci. 2 243) The present inventionrelates toa garment band of general utility with reference to articlesof personal wear.

It is desirable that a band for a garment shall 5 be neat and attractivein appearance as well as satisfactory from a utilitarian standpoint.Bands which have unsightly edges are not and do not lie flat are by nomeans as attractive orl as satisfactory as a band which has the inherentl0 characteristic of automatically flattening itself. This feature isalso of substantial importance when the garment is laundered because aat band launders flat whereas a band which has folded over edgesrequires more careful laundering in order to be sure thatit is properlyironed when the laundry is iinished.

The band according to the preferred form of the presentinventioncomprises the enclosing of a flat rubber strip within a textile sheathand wherein the sheath and rubber strip are sewed together while therubber strip is under tension.v

When the sewing is completed, the tension on the rubber str ip isreleased and the rubber strip contracts longitudinally and at the sametime The lateral expansion tends to carry theedges of the rubber stripoutwardly Yand since the cloth sheath is folded over in such ar size asnot to exceed the width of the untensioned rubber strip, .theuntensioned strip com- 30 pletely lls the sheath and thereby flattensout the sheath into a flat band. Where parallel rows of stitching areused, as is common in the art, the lateral expansion of the` rubberstrip tends to produce tension crosswise of the band between 36 theVrows of stitching and thereby flatten the band on the sides thereof. Theabove remarks are more especially made with reference to a band madefrom non-stretchable fabric.

Where a b'and according to the present inven- 40 tion is made fromstretchable fabric, there is a tendency of the sheath to contractlaterally when placed under tension. 'Ihis lateral contraction followsthe contraction of the rubber,

strip, so that where a band is made of stretchable 46 material with therubber strip completely filling the inside of the sheath, thecontraction and expansion of the sheath follow the contraction andexpansion of the rubber strip. Woven thread rubber elastic webbing doesnot diminish in width 50 laterally when the webbing is stretched, and,therefore, when such material is used within a sheath, there is nolateral movement to the edges of the webbing. Consequently, such awebbing does not have any tendency to flatten the sheath when tension isremoved. Neither do the edges f of such webbing follow the normalcontraction and expansion of a sheath formed'of stretchable material.`'f f The rubber strip ofthe present invention is of suflcient thicknessrelative to its wdth to satis- -5 factorily perform the' functionsintended and in av strip substantially one-half ofy an inch wide, thethicknessy of the rubber preferably approximates substantially onesixty-fourth of an inch.

It is recognized that the present invention may l0 be embodied inconstructions which may vary somewhat from a disclosure herewith, and,therefore, the disclosure is to be understood vas illustrative and notin the limiting sense.

Fig. 1 illustrates diagrammatcallyf the prel5 ferred form 'of device for.producing garment bandsxfrom stretchable textile material in ac'-cordance with the present invention. n

Fig'. 2 illustrates diagrammatically the manufacture of a band inaccordance with the present 20 invention from non-stretchable textilematerial.

Fig. 3 illustrates diagrammatically a band of stretchable textilematerial sewed together without longitudinal tension on the rubber stripor textile material.

Fig. 4 shows al band made according to Fig. 3, with the band undertension, and showing the narrowing of the band when stretched.

Fig. 5 illustrates a garment band in accordance with the presentinvention, which band is formed of stretchable material made'accordingto Fig. 1, and shows the band under tension by opposing forces appliedto the ends of the band at the points A and B.

Fig. 6 is a section of a band in Fig. 5 on line 35 6--6 of Fig. 6. i

Fig. 'I illustrates the band shown in Figs. /5 and 6 wherein the tensionis released and the rubber strip has contracted longitudinally andexpanded laterally to impose lateral forces on the sheath as illustratedby arrows C and D.

Fig. 8 is a section on line 8 8 of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 illustrates a modification of the band construction, and showsthe band in normal condition, with no longitudinal tension on a rubberstrip.

Fig. 10 is a cross-section on line I0-I0 of Fig. 9.

Referring now to the drawings and more especially to Fig. 1, whichillustrates the manufacture of a garment band in accordance with thepresent invention, vthe textile material I, which is preferably of theknit stretchable type, is folded around a iiat rubber strip 2 by afolder mechanism located at the folder station E with rollers 5 and 6which may be controlled by a suitable brake wheel 1 and brake 8 operatedby a spring 9 tensioned with a thumb screw III. A pair of-feed rollersII and I2, which are driven by sewing machine mechanism, tension -thesheath 4 and rubber strip 2 between the tension rollers 5 and 6 and thefeed rollers II and I2 so that this portion of the materials isstretched under longitudinal tension. form, a pair of sewing machineneedles adapted to produce a double row of stitches I4 and I5 areoperative on this tensioned portion of the material, at the sewingstation F,'to sew parallel lines of stitches through both sides of thesheath`` 4 of the rubber strip 2, thereby securely anchoring the rubberstrip 2 in place within the sheath 4 and at the same time sewing throughthe edge I6 of the folded over garment to com-l plete the sheath 4 andform the completed band I1. II and I2, it is no longer under tension andit automatically forms a uniformly shirred band.

Where non-stretchable fabric is used for making the sheath, preferably,the fabric is not tensioned as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the folderstation EE for the sheath is moved between the tension rolls 5 and 6 andthe feed rolls II and I2. In this construction, the rubber band 2 onlyis under tension during the sewing operation and the sheath I8 is formedof slightly less lateral width than the width of this rubber strip 2when the strip is not under tension.

Fig. 3 illustrates the back of another variation of the band forgarments in which the sheath is formed ofstretchable material, such ascommonly known tothe trade as knit Jersey, and wherein the band is sewedwith double stitches I4 and I5 with no tension being applied either tothe textile ,material or the rubber strip. In this case, the materialsare always flat when sewed together and when in use.v The textilematerial and the rubber strip when stretched both contract laterally thesame amount, as illustrated in Fig. 4, when tension is applied in thedirection of the arrows A-B. I

Fig.5 illustrates the band shown in Fig. l.

When the band is tensioned in the direction of the arrows `A-'B showinghow the tensioning of the'band toits normal elastic limit flattens thesame and contracts the band laterally. l

6 is a sectional view on line 5 6 of Fig. 5

In the preferredl After the ymaterial leaves the feed rolls andillustrates the structural form of the'sheath shown in Fig. 5. It alsoillustrates the edge of the strip rubber in contact with the edges ofthe sheath when the same is under tension.

Fig. 7 illustrates the band shown in Figs. 5 and 6 while not undertension and shows the lateral expansion of the rubber strip, asillustrated by arrows C and D. This view shows the strip to be widerwhen not under tension, than it is when under tension as illustrated inFigs. 5 and 6.

Fig. 8 is a cross-section on line 8-8 of Fig. 7 j

and illustrates how the edges of the rubbe` strip maintain contact withthe edges of the sheath at all' times.

Fig. 9 illustrates a slightly diiferent form oi' sheath wherein theouter facing I9 may be of diiferent material or of diilerent color fromthebody of the garment I. This sheath is illustrated as not being underlongitudinal stress which non-stressed condition is the normal conditionfor the band when not in use. Fig. 10 is a cross-section on line Ill-I0of Fig. 9 and shows the rubber strip expanded laterally to fill thesheath.

The present invention produces a highly satisfactory band for personalwear at a low cost of manufacture. The band is very neat in appearanceand is particularly well adapted for articles of womens wear. Y

Having described our invention, we claim:

In a garment band, the combination of a strip of sheet rubber, a textilesheath surrounding and enclosing said strip of sheet rubber with thetextile sheath slightly constricting the Vstrip of sheet rubberlaterally so that the edges of the strip of sheet rubber are in contactwith the inner edges of the sheath and exert a lateral spreading forceagainst the said inner edges of the sheath to support the same when theband is in normal unstretched condition, said strip of sheet rubberhaving a thickness equal to substantially one thirty-second of the widthof the strip of sheet rubber to form a sufficient body of rubber tosustain said lateral pressure within said sheath to hold the sheathlaterally extended when the band is unstretched, and stitches passingthrough a portion of said sheath to close'said sheath and anchor saidstrip of sheet rubber within said sheath to prevent displacement of saidstrip of sheet rubber relatively to said sheath and to hold said stripof sheet rubber substantially ilat within said sheath.

